#shaneguffogg

SHANE GUFFOGG: COLOR Part 7

SHANE GUFFOGG: COLOR Part 7

Shane Guffogg: Color Essay 7
Women and the Abstract Expressionist movement making history
(Conversation between Victoria Chapman and Los Angeles based artist, Shane Guffogg continues)

In Color Essay 6 we talked about women artists from the Abstract Expressionist movement starting with Helen Frankenthaler’s absence of color to the bold brushstrokes of Lee Krasner, and onward to Joan Mitchell who taught us how to see differently. Then there were the spiritual missions of Agnes Martin and Hilma af Klint. In Color Essay 7 we continue to explore the movement and talk about how these courageous women develop their own independent voice during this revolutionary period in art history.

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SHANE GUFFOGG: PART 5, THE LIFE OF THE ARTIST AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS: "CERTAINTY AND TRUTH"

A segment from the studio manager (Victoria Chapman) on Shane’s creative life in the studio, and at the ranch

The beginning layers of a new Still Point for Venice 2024

The Life of the Artist and the Creative Process – Part 5

Certainty and Truth

A segment from the studio manager (Victoria Chapman) on Shane’s creative life in the studio, and at the ranch

In Part 5, we are sharing Shane’s daily routine and how one thought leads to the next and, yes, there is some certainty and truth here.  I have heard visitors to the studio say on many occasions, “Shane, this is amazing, things just seem to line up for you.” How does this unfold?

As the observer in the room, I can honestly say, it’s not as easy as it may appear. Sure, there is a certain amount of luck, but the reality is there are no shortcuts. Shane works everyday all day, and he doesn’t take holidays. It’s like water that flows from one stream to the next-- it’s automatic for him. Whether he is in his orchard or vineyard tending to the fruit trees, remodeling a building (he is currently creating the “wine room” with two childhood friends), or applying the first layer of gesso to canvas, he is merely being in the moment. Somehow along the way of Shane’s early beginnings, this ability to stay in the moment took shape. And now it’s automatic. Whatever he touches, be it breakfast, a grapevine, or the brush to which he is about to create art, there is a certain consciousness that becomes absolute with all his heart, and in return the universe responds. Sometimes the circle is complete, an exhibition is booked, or a painting is sold. With total transparency, there is honesty that goes into a task. When I come across quotes from Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Spirit, it stops me in my tracks to reflect on what is going on in Shane’s life, and studio practice. 

Inside the Central California studio

Looking out the studio window

“In grasping the thought that the single individual consciousness is in itself - Absolute Essence, consciousness has returned into itself. Phenomenology of the Spirit page 139 

If you have been following this series, you know I am thumbing through Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Spirit. Hegel’s book explores the principles of self-identity and reaches into the dialectic. I will not go into that, but I will share why I keep returning to this book. For me, it has been a proverbial jumping-off place. It is a reminder of why art is made and its process. And then there is the creative flow, which I believe is another intertwined topic.

A few days ago, I was reminded of a conversation I had thirty-three years ago with a fellow art student, “How can I make art when I have barely experienced the world myself?” That was a wild thought, and it got me thinking about Shane and his life experiences as it’s translated into art.

There have been two films and podcast that have been published about Shane’s studio and ranch life. Some might ask, how does Shane divide his time? What are his daily rituals, shifting from one task or painting to the next. There is minimal separation – separated only by what he touches. How does the physicality of being become the impetus of art making? Creativity is an alchemic process of transforming truth into evidence. We can see it from the beginning in cave paintings, and for thousands of years, this has been observed from stone to iron and now into the information age. 

Shane wrote an article that touches on this subject, The Art of the Ancients Art Confidential Magazine, April 2023

Notes on the studio wall

Shane’s article The Art of the Ancients

In progress ..  for 2024 Venice Biennale

Artists have always contemplated the landscape. Whether this means tagging the wall or making mental notes, it’s the human condition to observe and document one’s findings. Cezanne spent years painting Mount St. Victore, observing nature, living in solitude, and searching for inner freedom. This practice of recording the world around him created some of the most unique works of art, setting the stage for the 20th century, starting with Picasso, which all began by honoring his truth.

As I sit at my desk daily in Los Angeles, I contemplate why art is so important and what it does on an immediate level and for society. I take a break and walk over to another painting studio of Shane’s and gasp while looking at the vast Conscious Occupation of a Praying Mind a painting from the series, At Still Point of the Turning World. As I leave that studio and walk over to collect the mail, I am reminded of the street sounds and the thousands of cars and people trailing up and down Western Ave. daily.  Returning to my desk, I glance over to the storage racks in the office, patiently holding Shane’s paintings. The office has become an art storage space as much as an office space. To my left are floor-to-ceiling bookshelves stacked with binders, catalogs, magazine boxes, and numerous books - all relative to Shane and his career on a global level. This man’s markings, documentation, and commitment to his art-making practice serve as a reminder of why art should never be forgotten or misunderstood.

It’s been a hectic year thus far while finalizing plans for the 2024 Venice Biennale (Shane’s exhibition will be on display at the Bovolo Museum). There was also a new record set at a Parisian auction for At the Still Point of the Turning World – Only Through Time is Time Conquered oil on canvas, plus various exhibitions, musical concerts that intertwine music and art, and many lectures about the topic of art and how Guffogg is informed and inspired by different composers, that took place in and around Los Angeles. Two of Shane’s paintings are in the group exhibition Circle of Sam at the Bakersfield Museum of Art, where his paintings are featured alongside Ed Ruscha, Sam Francis, and more. This exhibition honors Sam's friendships with fellow artists; it closes on September 9th. Opening on October 19th, 2023, at the Forest Lawn Museum, Glendale, is Shaping Gravity: Abstract Art Beyond the Picture Plane, featuring seven artists. Shane will have six significant works that span 21 years.

The Bovolo Museum, Venice, Italy where twenty new paintings will be on display from April - November 2024 Venice Biennale

Guffogg’s At the Still Point of the Turning World - Only Through Time is Time Conquered oil on canvas, 84 x 108” a record was set at Paris auction ($480,000 USD) on May 4, 2023

Guffogg’s At the Still Point of a Turning World - The Conscious Occupation of a Praying Mind oil on canvas, 78 x 108” will be featured in October 2023 exhibition Shaping Gravity: Abstract Art Beyond the Picture Plane Los Angeles

An intimate corner in the Central California Studio, in process paintings Neither Flesh nor Fleshness a stanza from T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets to be featured in Venice during 2024

While supporting Shane’s endeavors, I observe him traveling back and forth from Los Angeles and Central California studios with the occasional business trip to Europe. I often wonder, “Where does Shane get his inspiration, and how does he start his day?” 

Shane, the tornado, as he sometimes refers to himself, is busily noticing all the tiny and minute, numerous layers around him, seeing and feeling his way around the landscape. Within 12 hours on any given day, Shane not only works on his latest paintings (he usually works on 5 to 7 at a time), but also farming and tending to his Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard, olive trees (yes, he is pressing his olive oil), and 100 plus assorted fruit trees. Shane is moving through time and space. If you could trace his patterns throughout the painting studio and working the earth, one might see a similar physicality and energy that permeates from his surroundings.

Cabernet Sauvignon grapevine at the ranch/studio in Central California. Shane personally planted 350 vines.

During Part 5 of this series, Shane has been too busy for our usual Q and A and he suggested sharing two videos made by Eric Minh Swenson, Part 1 and Part 2 filmed at the ranch, two years apart. These videos go into detail about Shane’s life and what he was and is planning. And to refer again to Hegel -- while becoming conscious and aware of the world, Shane acknowledges his thoughts, visualizing beauty and the positive wonders of the world. All these elements are the ingredients for his daily practice of art making and life. 

Victoria Chapman

Studio Manager

Guffogg Studio Los Angeles

The progress today of the big painting for Venice (first image in this newsletter)

SHANE GUFFOGG: PART 4, THE LIFE OF THE ARTIST AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS - "TRANSCENDING"

SHANE GUFFOGG: PART 4, THE LIFE OF THE ARTIST AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS - "TRANSCENDING"

Happy Holidays,

I am sending gratitude from the Los Angeles studio, wishing everyone a peaceful and bright holiday season. Here we are sending our last conversation during 2022. This one is about transcending - an on-going topic I have been milling over with Shane.

In Part 3 we talked about time and space, we also discussed the complexity of Shane’s 2016, “At the Still Point of the Turning World” oil on canvas. I mentioned Spinoza’s ‘inherent nature of all things’ and Shane shared his thoughts on the creator and observer. In Part 4, the focus is on change and transcendence. As we reach the closing of 2022, I think this discussion is necessary to prepare for what is to come in 2023. Parts of this conversation are taken from our podcast “Blue” also the title of the current exhibition on display at The Blue Room on Western Avenue, consisting of three large works and what I refer to as Shane’s transcendental paintings. - VC

The Life of the Artist and the Creative Process - Part 4

VC: I recently found an excerpt in The World Interiors magazine (January 2021), by JG Ballard. There was a section on the “Word” of interiors celebrating four decades of the magazine’s success with special content using text to describe an interior. Ballard’s contribution, an excerpt from “The Future of the Future” (1977) predicts life in 2000. Ballard’s text brings to light who we are today, and the disconnect endured by living in the information age. I am charmed by his foresight – he was not alone with his vision, as many others predicted similar outcomes. But I would like to begin this conversation with Shane by sharing this current mood of the now /then and the need to transcend into the safe arrival of 2023.

“In the dream house of the year 2000, Mrs. Tomorrow will find herself living happily inside her own head. Walls, floors and ceilings will be huge, unbroken screens on which will be projected a continuous sound-and-visual display of her pulse and respiration, her brain waves and blood pressure. The delicate quicksilver loom of her nervous system as she sits at her dressing-table, the sudden flush of adrenaline as the telephone rings, the warm arterial tides of emotion as she arranges lunch with her lover, all these will surround her with a continuous lightshow. Every aspect of her home will literally reflect her character and personality, a visible image of her inner self to be overlaid and enhanced by those of her husband and children, relatives and friends. A marital tiff will resemble the percussive climax of The Rite of Spring, while a dinner party (with each of the guests wired into the circuitry) will be embellished by a series of frescoes as richly filled with character and incident as a gallery of Veroneses. By contrast, an off day will box her into a labyrinth of Francis Bacons, a premonition of spring surround her with the landscapes of Constable, an amorous daydream transform the walls of her bathroom into a seraglio worthy of Ingres”

VC: It’s interesting, as we read deeper into Ballard’s text, Mrs. Tomorrow’s life is revealed by artist paintings. As I lay awake during these cold months, tossing and turning, listening to the echoing sounds of police cars and helicopters chasing into the Hollywood night, I continue to contemplate my existence, questioning the decisions I have made and where my life will end up. And during this time, I will be prompted by great artworks that have shaped my life. I will make a plea to the world, that creative beings will continue to observe what’s around them and define what it means to be human. And if in the far future, if art has no physical presence, there will be some chamber within our mind that will remind us of great artists and how our experience has been described through the centuries, because, I believe, art was made for just that.

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SHANE GUFFOGG: SELF PORTRAITS, PART 3

SHANE GUFFOGG: SELF PORTRAITS, PART 3

Shane Guffogg: Self-Portraits, Part 3
(conversation between Victoria Chapman and artist continues)

In Part 3, we enter the worlds of Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. I spent time researching the artists and some of their life experiences that shaped many compositions and self-portraits. I had more questions for Shane Guffogg, which he carefully shared his personal takes on, giving me a deeper understanding. This led me to draw curious parallels between the artists of the past and Guffogg, parallels that reveal more and more about his work.

V.C: Henri Matisse (1869-1954) was another artist that advanced modern art, but not without hardship. It took until almost the end of his career for the public to understand his work. Matisse also created self-portraits, utilizing different styles and mediums: etchings, paintings, simplified line drawings, etc. I learned from my research that Matisse valued painting the relationships between objects rather than just the objects themselves. He’s known for his still lifes and portraits. He eventually made paper cut-outs, which would become the most-known works of his career. The artist was also known for painting his own spirit into his works; not his recognizable face, but his presence within the scenes he painted. He not only recreated the world around him in a dazzling array of colors and lines, but he also painted a life force within it. In the Chapelle du Rosaire de Vence, which is decorated in colored stained glass and black line drawings, Matisse displays his version of Stations of the Cross. The colored stained glass cascades on the visitor, sharing space within the white walls – color from the light is the environment.

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SHANE GUFFOGG: SELF-PORTRAITS, Part 1

SHANE GUFFOGG: SELF-PORTRAITS, Part 1

Shane Guffogg: Self-Portrait, Part 1

The artist and their psychological state transmitting its way through history.

Conversation between Victoria Chapman and Los Angeles based international artist, Shane Guffogg.

The history of self-portraits dates back centuries – they are easy to spot in early Egyptian art, Greek/Roman Mythology, and more. It’s no surprise that upon exiting the Middle Ages and entering the 15th century or early Renaissance – when artists began to separate from kingdoms – the self-portraiture became more common in search of identity and questioning of humanity.

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SHANE GUFFOGG: COLOR Part 5

SHANE GUFFOGG: COLOR Part 5

Abstract Expressionism and Freedom
(Conversation between Victoria Chapman and Los Angeles based artist, Shane Guffogg continues)

VC: We finished Part 4 entering the uncharted waters of Abstract Expressionism, a movement that incorporated beauty and violence. I was awestruck with the opening monologue of Emile De Antonio’s art documentary film; Painter’s Painting – The New York Art Scene 1940 -1970

The monologue begins …

“They say the problem of American painting is there was a problem of subject matter. Painting in America kept getting tangled up in the contradictions of itself. We made portraits of ourselves when we had no idea who we were. We tried to find God in landscapes, and we were destroying them as fast as we could paint them. We painted Indians as fast as we could kill them. And during the greatest accomplishments in technological history, we painted ourselves as a bunch of fiddling rustics. By the time we became social realists we knew that American themes were not going to lead to a great national art. Only because the themes themselves were hopelessly absolute. Against the consistent attack of Mondrian and Picasso, we had only art of half-truths lacking conviction. The best artists began to yield rather than kick against the pricks. And it is exactly at this moment, we finally abandon the hopeless constraints to create a national art, that we succeeded for the first time to do just that. By resolving a problem forced on a painting by the history of French art. We created for the first time a genuine art of magnitude. And if one had to ask what made American art great, it was American painters who took hold of the issue of abstract art – a freedom that could get with no other subject matter and finally we made high art out of it.”

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